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By David Futrelle
Angry gamers are somehow still up in arms about the body of the character Abby in The Last of Us 2. You may recall, back in April the angriest gamers — the perpetual Gamergaters — were outraged after a studio leak revealed that the character Abby would be returning in the sequel as a newly-buff fighter with notably jacked arms.
At first the angry gamers assumed that any woman that buff had to be trans, so they accused the game studio, Naughty Dog, of pushing an LGBT+ agenda on innocent gamers. Then, when it turned out that Abby was not trans, the angry gamers got mad at Abby for a whole other reason — declaring that her body was “unrealistic” because where would she be getting enough food to bulk up like that in a postapocalyptic world and did she even lift, bro?
The game has been out for some time now and they’re still mad.
But now the angry gamers think they have found DEFINITIVE PROOF that Abby’s body is too good to be true — in the form of a workout schedule for Abby they discovered somewhere in the games assets that reveals, well, that she doesn’t lift enough to have arms like THAT.
“[A]bby is more muscular Than 90% of the Guys in the gym where i was workout,” complains another gamer on Twitter. “No girl in the gym looks as ugly as Abby.”
Other, er, critics make much of the fact that food is rationed in the dire dystopian world of the game.
“Her food is rationed,” insists one of Abby’s critics. “They SHOW that in game. She’d never be able to get the lean protein required to get that big.”
“Abby … has a muscular physique … in an environment where proper diet is so rare that food is rationed out,” another Abby non-fan grumbles. “You can say you don’t care but you can’t claim that this all about hating women.”
Like hell I can’t.
In case you’re wondering just how jacked this woman is, here’s what she looks like.
This is the body that these guys are declaring so “unrealistic”that it destroys any feelings of immersion in the game — a game that also features, yes, ZOMBIES. You know, creatures that DON’T ACTUALLY EXIST IN REAL LIFE
Come to think of it, has anyone found the zombies’ workout schedule?
More to the point, has anyone even gone looking for the workout schedules for any of the far-more-improbably buff bodies of assorted male video game heroes — say, the top-heavy soldiers in Gears of War, Batman in the Arkham series, Zangief in Street Fighter — or any of the other imaginary video game men on this handy list?
Of course not. It’s almost as if there’s a double standard. It’s almost as if Abby’s critics just can’t stand the thought of a strong women, or something. “It’s such a weird, ultra-specific way to be misogynistic while claiming to appeal to logic,” notes podcaster Jubel Brosseau on Twitter. That it is.
“Almost”? That’s it. Trust me.
(Great post David)
This is basically nerd-sniping, misogyny edition. If you find yourself with that much of a hate boner for a fictional character, re-evaluate your life.
No, but I found their meal schedule:
Monday: BRAAIINS
Tuesday: BRAIIINNS
Wednesday: BRAAAINS
Thursday: BBRAINNSS
Friday: BRAAIINS
Saturday: BBRRAAAINS
Sunday: BRAAIINS
Looking at the pictures of Abby, she doesn’t even look all that muscular. I mean, sure, she’s more muscular than I am (which doesn’t say much) and more so than average, but not unbelievably so. I know women IRL who are more muscular than that.
Her arms look like … arms. What do these guys expect arms to look like, exactly? She’s not a bodybuilder and doesn’t look like one. She looks like someone who does a lot of manual labor.
They can’t stand the idea of a woman who isn’t a helpless waif? Seems about right.
The gears guys are chunky cos their planet has higher gravity. Also their horses and other animals are similarly chunky!
These guys are still ridiculous though
Huh? Girl is very fit, but she’s not THAT buff. These guys are pretty desperately insecure. And obsessive. And dumb.
Holly Hunter’s (amazing) arms beg to differ.
https://twitter.com/aherman2006/status/1178734146534817792
I dont even think abby looks very muscular. She has strong looking arms but not like a body builder. She actually looks to me what would happen if she has to adapt to survive the apocalypse. She probably wouldn’t even have to do exercises becuase survival is physical and she would work a lot every day and naturally gain muscle. It is true she has bigger arms than me but I’m very weak and I dont go to the gym.
Hey, lurker emerging from the woodwork here :). Alt-right type gamers were absolutely rabid for The Last of Us 2. The head writer (?) and Abby’s voice actress tweeted about a number of disgusting threats they received after the game’s release.
For anyone interested, CW: antisemitism, misogyny, SA, and all around horribleness
Here
and
here
Let the air out of these guys by pointing out that the male characters are equally buff and also on a rationed diet.
For that matter, point out that the appearance of “muscular” is less about high muscle mass (as long as it’s not too low) and more about low body fat percentage … and low body fat percentage is exactly what you’d expect when food is scarce and being rationed.
I know a woman with Abby’s exact physique. She’s an actor and a stunt performer who works out regularly. That’s exactly what you’d expect from a woman who regularly works her arms and torso. And the complaints are exactly what you’d expect from ,men whose main experience with women is from Pornhub.
Hey angry gamers,
If The Last of US 2’s main character was an adult male, and was built like Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime would any of you complain about how unrealistic that was? No? Than do us all a favor, and get a life.
British climber Shauna Coxsey looks pretty much this muscular, and that’s in a sport where people try hard to keep their weight down.
As far as the diet thing, I saw something on TV that suggested there’s evidence that the women in a stone age tribe would have carried far more muscle than modern women (due to grinding stuff up all day to eat) – and they probably ate more lily roots than anything else.
But I don’t know why I’m trying to rationalise how she might of got her body, it’s a video game! I notice they aren’t complaining how unrealistically clear her skin is and how her hair looks so perma-neat and smooth, haha.
Gamergaters complaining about the unrealistic physique of a female character. They have no sense of irony, do they?
As someone who grew up in a farming community the fact that these guys have no concept of muscle development outside lifting in the gym is hilarious to me.
Her arms are even modeled to look like working muscle instead of bodybuilding muscle.
Considering how a lot of these idiots see the apocalypse as an escape from the terrors of the modern world, it really isn’t surprising they’re still mad at a game that suggests LGBTQ-people and non-waify women are capable of surviving.
These are the same type of idiots that do not realize that a lot of make-up goes into the perception of ‘natural beauty’ after all. Which would also be pretty hard to keep up and justify in a post-apocalyptic scenario, I think (both in the time and resource department).
As for their claims of Abby being ugly, I strongly disagree.
I used to follow smudboy way, way back in the day as he did some pretty interesting multi-part analyses of the narrative of the Mass Effect series.
Then he posted a fawning interview with Davis Aurini, and from that point onward was publicly pro-gamergate, which signaled his newfound dedication to largely making typical right wing “reacting to media” clickbait nonsense. So disappointing.
Out of morbid curiosity, I just checked his channel and just 2 days ago he posted a 30 minute video called “TLOU2 is EXACTLY like The Last Jedi?!” because apparently these doofuses just cannot get over this one movie. (I’m assuming the basis of the video isn’t “they’re both awesome”).
If there was a Venn diagram of these guys and the ones who whine when women characters get realistic armor the overlap would pretty much be 100%. Oh the irony.
I wasn’t able to get the photo itself to show up, but click on the URL in the preceding post to see a completely unrealistic photo — it must be FAKE NEWZ — of a buff First Lady. She is flanked by two Muppet friends. Remember how the Republicans were enraged about Michelle Obama’s bare arms. But then they were perfectly fine with photos of Melania in scenes of girl-on-girl action.
Oh, now I see that another photo did show up: Michelle in pink and red, looking dangerous.
@Kat
Michelle is a repulsive woman. I really don’t see what Obama saw in such a disgusting and unprepossessing hag; upon becoming president, my first order surely would have been to divorce her and locate a more suitable female. Without doubt, a man of such high station could have his pick – he needn’t default to such an odoriferously gruesome ball-busting harpy of Michelle’s likeness. Barry appeared almost likable by contrast, and it was almost impossible not to feel sorry for the man at times, given that his wife mostly resembles some kind of canid, and, in all likelihood, sucked blood more than anything else. In fact, I daresay that she resembles the fabled chupacabra…
I echo the fact that Abby isn’t that buff. I mean, she’s athletic but less so than, say, any gymnast, and a lot less so than any body builder. Even working women can be like that if they work somewhat physically.
@skimmingway : note how you don’t actually justify the ton of bile you deserve on Michelle. Perhaps you didn’t see a dog in a long, long time ? She don’t count as particulary buff either.
I for one can easily understand why they stay together.
I’m at a part in this game where I’d prefer an even more muscular and tough Abby, because I keep getting my ass handed to me :/ That’s my problem, of course, not hers.
This game is fantastic, though. Abby is a great character with a great story.
Well, Obama isn’t scared of intelligent, assertive women, so of course he has different taste in partners than Skimmingway*
Also, while he is obviously deeply in love with Michelle , he must have been incredibly grateful to find a wife that was probably his greatest political asset. If only she was interested in running for president.
*is this some convoluted Hemmingway reference. Opposites in prose style, united in inventing misogynistic bullshit.
@ohlmann
Normally, I would try and be civil about this kind of thing. I would struggle to be as elevated as possible, not allowing any kind of atavistic disgust to override my capacities for language. But there’s just no dressing this one up; she’s repulsive.
I swear to god (does he exist? I just found one of his mistakes, if so) she looks like some kind of ostrich-necked shit general. A hog-goblin fucking a tub full of platypus guts would be less unsightly to behold. She has the face of a rabid chihuahua, hair like one of those chimeras from FMA, and arms like Slender Man. If I looked even *remotely* that repugnant, I would ask that god smite me, or at least not act as a disgrace to his creation by finding a dark cave to sequester myself in, so as not to make a mockery of the sun’s job by giving it something so deformed to waste its rays on. Barrack’s eyes are as blind as his politics.